Twitter is currently contemplating legal action against Meta due to the rapid growth of its competing app, Threads.
Threads, which was introduced to millions of users on Wednesday, presents itself as a "friendly" alternative to Twitter, according to Meta executives.
Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter, stated that "competition is fine, cheating is not." However, Meta refuted allegations made in a legal letter claiming that former Twitter employees assisted in the creation of Threads.
According to Meta, more than 70 million people have already signed up for the new app. Twitter, on the other hand, boasts an estimated 350 million users, as reported by Statista.
A 2013 SEC filing revealed that it took Twitter four years to amass the same number of users that Threads acquired in just one day. It is worth noting that while Twitter built its userbase from scratch, Threads was able to tap into the existing two billion monthly users of Instagram, as claimed by Meta.
BBC News technology reporter James Clayton highlighted the striking similarities between Threads and Twitter in terms of their appearance and functionality. He emphasized that the news feed and reposting features of Threads felt "incredibly familiar."
However, it's important to note that US copyright law does not protect ideas. To succeed in court, Twitter would need to prove that its own intellectual property, such as programming code, was unlawfully used.
Furthermore, in 2012, Meta was granted a patent for "communicating a newsfeed," which is the system that displays the latest posts on Facebook.
In a recent development reported by Semafor, Twitter attorney Alex Spiro sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday, accusing Meta of "systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property" in the creation of Threads.
Specifically, Mr. Spiro alleged that Meta had hired numerous former Twitter employees who "had and continue to have access to Twitter's trade secrets and other highly confidential information," which ultimately aided Meta in developing the "copycat" Threads app.
The letter states, "Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information." It further adds that Twitter reserves all rights, including the right to seek civil remedies and injunctive relief without further notice.
BBC News, which obtained a copy of the letter, has reached out to both Meta and Twitter for comment.
In response to a Twitter post referring to the legal letter, Mr. Musk stated, "competition is fine, cheating is not."
Regarding Threads, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone posted that "no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee - that's just not a thing."
Can Threads surpass Elon Musk's Twitter in terms of revenue?